Barron's Magazine named Satoru Iwata one of the world's top CEOs, due mostly to the Wii, Brain Age sales, as well as a soaring stock.

Early years

Satoru Iwata was born in Sapporo, Japan. He expressed his interest in the creation of video games early on, and originating in an environment with a tradition of computer programming, he produced electronic games at his home during his high school years. The several simple number games Iwata produced, which made use of an electronic calculator, he shared with his schoolmates.

Education

Following high school, Iwata was admitted at the prestigious Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he majored in computer science. Such an environment allowed Iwata's technical expertise and passion for video games to be recognized and as such, he was hired as a part-time games programmer at HAL Laboratory, Inc., a subsidiary of Nintendo, while still pursuing his tertiary studies until graduation.

HAL Laboratory, Incorporated

Nintendo

In 2000, Iwata took a position at Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division. When Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company's president since 1949, retired on May 31 2002, Iwata succeeded as Nintendo's fourth president and the first unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage. He continues to help out at HAL as a correspondent. It is said that Iwata still works as an artist there, assisting in creating concept art of Kirby characters for use in the Kirby series of video games. His latest project is the Wii. He comments on the Wii in his section of Nintendo's Wii website, Iwata Asks. Iwata has also worked on The Legend of Zelda , Mario series, and the Animal Crossing series of games.

External links

• Satoru Iwata Keynote given at Tokyo Game Show 2005
• Seattle Post Intelligence: Satoru Iwata Interview
• Satoru Iwata Kikizo Video Interview
• Gamespy: Nintendo's New Direction - A discussion with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata
• Heart of a Gamer speech at GDC '05
• A+E Interactive E3 2007 Interview
• Level Up E3 2007 Interview